AEG Adventure Boosters: Jerimond's Orb and Out of Body, Out of Mind
This week I bring you a mini review of two of AEG's Adventure Booster mini-adventures for the D20 System. Realizing that there are a slew of these things, I'm also introducing two "standard blurbs" that I'll include in future reviews as well: a blurb describing my general views on the format, and a blurb describing how I rate adventures.
General Comments: AEG Adventure Boosters
(standard blurb)
AEG's Adventure Boosters are small, cheap adventures for the D20 System, primarily targeted at D&D 3e players. The format is a single booklet, 4.25" x 11" (the size of standard US 8.5x11 paper folded in half lengthwise.) There are 16 interior pages (i.e., four 8.5x11 sheets), staple bound to the cover. The Adventure Boosters are priced at $2.49 US each.
The back cover contains a bit of exposition, which is often the introduction to the adventure. The inside front cover has an introductory "how to use this" note and an ad for other Adventure Boosters. The last page contains a blurb about who AEG is and legalistic stuff. The inside back cover contains a copy of the Open Game License, obligatory for D20 System products.
The remainder of the book is game material, including the adventure itself, a map, a new creature and a new magic item. The maps look hand-drawn, and are simple but functional.
Overall, I think the Adventure Boosters are a good value. They are small enough in scope that they don't take much shoehorning to fit into an ongoing campaign, which is something that cannot be said about many larger D20 and D&D 3e adventures. They are just the ticket if you need to come up with something to play quick, and the cost is less than lunch at a fast food place.
Jerimond's Orb: A look inside (spoilers ahead)
Unlike most of the prior AEG Adventure Boosters, Jerimond's Orb is not a dungeon crawl or classical "location keyed" adventure. Rather, it is a refreshing break, a sort of horror-mystery. The adventure is designed for 4-6 characters of level 2-4.
The players are involved first by hearing news of a once prosperous village befalling a curse. Later, when they are travelling, they become involved first hand when a beast that is a result of this curse attacks them.
The story revolves around a magic item, Jerimond's Orb. The orb can be used to bring luck to those that use it. However, if those that use it are deprived of the Orb, a curse is inflicted in proportion to the boon that was granted. In this case, members of the village are being turned into bestial creatures. To solve the mystery, the players must find out the nature of the curse and recover the Orb.
The map is a sketch of the village that the players investigate, and most of the adventure is driven by events described in the booklet.
Jerimond's Orb: Summary
Overall, the adventure is a nice break from the "dungeon-crawly" nature of previous AEG Adventure Boosters. There is a fair bit of role-playing interaction and problem solving in the adventure. The players will also have to deal the additional conundrum that these beasts are actually cursed innocents, which should make the few combats more interesting.
The game material is sparse, primarily limited to the statistics of the cursed creatures and the Orb itself. This is primarily an idea-based adventure, and could even be run using other systems. The adventure could use more mood-building encounters to bring out the horror feel and more detail on the NPCs to make roleplaying easier on the DM. That is, if you could find a place to put it in the 4 sheets that comprise the adventure.
Jerimond's Orb: Ratings:
Idea content: 4
Ready to use game content: 2
Value for money: 4
RPGnet Substance rating: 3
RPGnet Style rating: 3
Out of Body, Out of Mind: A look inside (spoilers ahead)
Out of Body, Out of Mind is designed for 3-5 characters of levels 4-6.
Out of Body, Out of Mind is a return to the dungeon crawl / site based adventure of the first four AEG Adventure Boosters. The adventure starts with exposition about the legend of a hero that once dominated the local area, the legendary Tirna'gael. A powerful hero, Tirna'gael was interred in a most unusual keep. Recently, rumors have come forth suggesting that invaders have struck his resting place in search of his legendary magic artifacts. The players are involved by being called forth by the local lord to investigate these rumors.
The tomb itself is an interesting locale, an octagonal fortress suspended over a volcano. The challenges within are both challenging and justifiable, not as trite and contrived as many dungeon crawls. There are a few Indiana Jones style traps, and a challenging final encounter with a twist: the hero Tirna'gael was not a hero at all, but a demonic creature called a nescent that can possess other creatures. Tirna'gael was put to rest by an order of paladins who have kept the truth hidden all these years.
Dealing with the nescent, which the PCs will doubtlessly awaken, is a daunting challenge. The nescent (actually a template) can try to possess a different creature if its old body is getting trashed. Fortunately, there is a ghost in the tomb that knows a way to beat the nescent.
Out of Body, Out of Mind: Summary
The adventure is one of the better thought out of the Adventure Boosters, providing an interesting plot twist as well as other challenges. Some of the challenges may be too lethal for the tastes of some DMs (such as traps that send the characters plummeting into the lava below), but the adventure has good ideas as well as a challenging and interesting creature to add to the DM's repertoire.
Out of Body, Out of Mind Ratings:
Idea content: 4
Ready to use game content: 4
Value for money: 4
RPGnet Substance rating: 4
RPGnet Style rating: 3
How I rate D20 System adventures
(standard blurb)
As far as I am concerned, canned adventures provide two primary points of value: ideas (adventure premises, interesting challenges, etc.) and ready to run game material (maps, useful and properly done encounter statistics, new creatures and items). The obvious third criteria is overall value for money, which includes page count for a given cost and use of space.
I use these three factors to holistically determine what "substance" rating I'll give the item on RPGnet. This is separate from the style consideration, which I use as stated on RPGnet.
Alan D. Kohler
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